Santa Monica Woman Left With Critical Injuries Following Alleged Attack By Her Boyfriend

SANTA MONICA (CBSLA) — A man is in custody after a brutal attack left a woman with critical injuries.

Authorities say Kevin Ferron is behind bars and charged with attempted murder for the attack on Anna Koosmann.

The victim is his girlfriend, police said.

KCAL9’s Cristy Fajardo talked to neighbors — most of whom did not want to appear on camera. But they told her fights were not new in this couple’s apartment. Police were even called to the location on Christmas Day.

For months neighbors heard fights.

Some even snapped photos of police at the couple’s Santa Monica apartment building.

But on Friday night they saw crime tape go up as police arrested Ferrón.

“There were about four or five cops hanging around here, which is super atypical of this area,” says neighbor Lucca Pactrucci.

Neighbors in the building on the 100 block of Sixth Street described a tumultuous and unstable relationship.

Koosmann has made the news before. She went viral in 2016 after she and her then boyfriend were arrested on a Delta flight for being unruly because a flight attendant wouldn’t let her use the restroom.

Booking information shows Ferron was arrested at least four times in the last year The most recent for a felony on January 21. And just weeks before, for what became a misdemeanor charge on Christmas Day.

Santa Monica Police couldn’t say why Ferron had been arrested that particular day but confirm they had been called to the apartment for reports of domestic violence.

Still, neighbors say it wasn’t long before they saw him back at their building.

And many told Fajardo that they were saddened the arrest Friday ended with crime tape.

I am angered by the reporter including the video of Anna on the plane and any mention of it in her story. The video has absolutely no relevance to the brutal attack inflicted on her by her boyfriend. What was the logic behind including the video in the story? To me, it smacked of victim blaming which certainly is bad form for this reporter. Doesn’t the family have enough to deal with? This reference to the video is abhorant and unnecessary.

I am in complete agreement with Jill. The victim shaming and mention of her previous trouble, seems to paint the picture of a person with history (without knowing any fact around what that might be) that led to something like what happened, making it appear that she is not a victim, but that she may have somehow invited this upon herself with her behavior. (….”this time with a different boyfriend.”) Even if that was true, it’s ABSURD to turn the victim of the crime into someone who may have invited it. They could have mentioned that she is a University of Michigan graduate, with a significant career in finance and has many friends and family who love and support her UNCONDITIONALLY.

When a life-threatening attack on a woman is reported with additional elements that describe the victim in negative light, (“Koosmann has made the news before, she has been arrested … for being unruly,” and “Neighbors say, unfortunately, they too saw disruptive behavior in their complex”), it carries an insinuation that the victim may have somehow brought this upon herself: After all, this is not the first time she has made the news, and she seems to be prone to disruptive behavior! So, it should not come as a surprise that she is making the news again!

The focus here had been shifted from the seriousness of the crime, to the negative description of the victim, and this unjustifiable shift made it easier for the readers to look more leniently at the perpetrator of the vicious act that threatened the young woman’s life, while inviting judgment upon her, instead of compassion for her plight.

Mentioning the victim’s great personal qualities (a brilliant young woman, University of Michigan alumnus, with years of successful work in the finance industry, loved and cherished by many, possibly running into some bumps on the road of life as we all do), would have had a very different effect on the readers, though it would not have corroborated what the reporter wanted to emphasize, or provided such a “juicy”content for the report as the airplane accident did. The kind of selective reporting we saw here is deeply disturbing,

As a mother of one of Anna’s U of M sorority sisters, who had the opportunity to get to know and appreciate this brilliant young woman during her college years, I am horrified with what had taken place on February 9th, and appalled by how it was reported. I pray for Anna’s swift and complete recovery.